Sara M. Roy is an American political economist and Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, her background informed her academic focus on human rights, economic development, and Middle Eastern politics.
Roy pioneered the concept of “de-development,” a theoretical framework analyzing how structural and political policies can systematically dismantle an economy’s capacity for growth. She introduced this theory in her 1995 book, The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-development, which remains a foundational text in Middle Eastern political economy and the study of the Palestinian territories.
Having conducted field research in the Gaza Strip since 1985, Roy has documented its structural economic decline and humanitarian conditions for four decades. Drawing on her Jewish heritage, she regularly speaks out against the blockade of Gaza, arguing that opposition to structural oppression is central to Jewish ethics and advocating for Palestinian economic and civil rights.